Thursday was a half day for me (thank you SNO-MG!!) and I had a desire to bake. I had no clue what I wanted to bake, all I knew was that I wanted to bake and that was what I was going to do. :)

Of course I asked the husband what he wanted, and he did tell me to bring my cookbook to him and he would pick something out. However, my cookbooks weren't doing it for me. So onto Pinterest I went. I searched cupcakes and found a french toast cupcake. I thought it sounded good and I had most of the ingredients on hand so off to the kitchen I went. I had to substitute two of the ingredients, and I will say, they came out pretty dang good.

I wanted to frost them, but I didn't have the ingredients on hand for the whipped cream frosting below that they suggested (OK, I didn't have the whipping cream on hand), so I came up with my own.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. Prepare the cupcakes: Combine the flours, baking powder, potato starch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl with a whisk.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugars with a mixer on low speed until combined, 6 to 8 minutes. Gradually mix in the vanilla and egg whites. Scrape down the sides of the bowl; continue mixing until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the maple syrup and half-and-half, mixing after each addition and ending with flour. Mix until the ingredients are just combined; do not overmix.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about three-quarters of the way. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting (my own recipe)

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1 STICK OF BUTTER

a splash of milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 TSP MAPLE EXTRACT

1 cup powdered sugar (SIFTED)

Using a stand mixer, whip the cream cheese and butter for 5 minutes until smooth. Add milk, vanilla and maple extracts, mix thoroughly. Lower the speed to low as you slowly add the powered sugar. Continue to beat on medium for 5 minutes. (You can add more milk for a thinner frosting. For a thicker frosting, use less milk.)

Thanks as always to Jenn for such a great link up and congrats on the baby news!!!

Today's menu comes from Saturday evenings dinner:

Crockpot Chicken Ranch Tacos

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts (I used 2 large)

One can of chicken stock (2 cups)

One packet of taco seasoning

One packet of ranch seasoning mix

Cook on low for about 6 hours until chicken is fall apart tender. I took the chicken out of the crockpot and put in my Kitchen Aid mixer to shred the chicken evenly. I decided to put the shredded chicken in the juice to give it more flavor. Only problem came was that when putting the meat in the taco shells, they became a bit soggy. I think I would skip on the putting the meat back into the juice.

I put the shells on a baking sheets, filled with meat and cheese and placed in a 350 degree oven for a couple minute to warm the shells up and melt the cheese.

In all, it came out great! I used sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce, a pico de gallo and some plain greek yogurt in mine.

As always, I was ever thankful the weekend was here, but yet, the weekend just goes by WAYYYY to fast!

Friday

We spent the night hanging out on the couch. I had every intention on starting laundry, starting to vacuum, sewing...yeah none of that happened. In fact I can't even remember what we did exactly on Friday night, that's how thrilling it was. I am pretty sure I was in bed by 9pm and asleep by 10pm at the latest. I am such an old lady...

A view from my front door on Thursday afternoon

My car was covered in ice when I got home

We got so much snow! This was Keeley on Monday morning when I took her out.

Saturday

Morning time came around early for me, around 8am.

For breakfast, I made us some Orange Rolls (soooooo delish, my favorite, thank you Pillsbury Dough Boy). I also started a crockpot dinner, Chicken Ranch Tacos (so easy). The dishes were done, the kitchen was cleaned and I even got some vacuuming done on the downstairs all before 10:30am!!

For lunch I met up with my friend Ali and her son Sam at Chick-fil-A! So yum! We had a blast, Sam had the best time in the play place running around. I got home that afternoon and begged Andy to finish painting the bathroom. He started painting it about a month ago we just needed to do some touch up spots, paint where the light is and paint the toilet area. Exciting, I know. I even pitched in and helped, A LOT! I think it came out great. Reason being to get it finish, our permit for the basement to get finished it completed and ready to be picked up!!! Which means the basement construction will begin soon!!! YAY!!! I am so excited to get this project going. Which reminds me, I need to get before shots done. I am never good at remembering to get the before shots, I always get after shots done. :) Dinner turned out so good! I will be posting on Wednesday all about this, so stay tuned.

Painted bathroom, ignore the painting supplies on the sink area

Target shopping was on the agenda for the evening and Andy even tagged along (he needed lunch food). We perused a bit, hit up the Easter candy aisle (big mistake) and then I found mascara on clearance! 2 tubes of Maybelline on clearance for $4.98. I had a Target coupon for a $1 off and a manufactures coupon for $1 off, SCORE!! So in all, 2 tubes of mascara for $2.98 (a $1.49 each!!) It's not a bad mascara either, I like it. So that's all that matters. :)

SundayThat morning Keeley decided she wanted to play early in the morning, she got in trouble by Andy for squeeking her toy while I slept. Her punishment, not getting to lie in bed with me. She was not a fan, but Andy gave in and let her in a while later. I planned on my lunch date with my mom to El Maguey and our favorite, Target. It was a MERRY TARGET WEEKEND!! :) Had a good time like always and I got to eat some very delicious Mexican food. Got home and got a comfy spot on the couch (so lazy, I know). "Days of Thunder" was on CMT. LOVE THAT MOVIE!! It's an oldie and a goody! We then headed over to Andy's parents house for dinner. Pepper steak was on the menu, yum! We brought Keeley over to play their dog Shadow. Keeley totally got her exercise in, she passed out on the couch when we were over there. We left for home and gave her a bath first thing, so she is now a fresh and clean doggie. :) I got ready for bed at 8 (again, old lady) and watched the Oscar's. Can I just say, BORING!!! I think it is the most boring awards show there is. I loved the Golden Globes, but the Oscars, SNOOZE FEST! Smokey decided to join in on the Oscar snoozing cuddled up next to me. My mom and I were texting each other during the show, it was fun and we both were having good laughs. Most of the awards given, I had never heard of the movies!! I will say that I did see "Argo" and I liked it. It's about dang time a movie that wins the Oscar for Best Picture is an actual good movie. I also saw "Silver Linings Play Book" which I thought was good but a little slow. I turned the TV off before the show was over, I was not about to stay up till 11pm to see who won, that's what the internet is for.

Smokey gets comfy in my bed

Keeley decided she needed to share the chair with me, she is such a good "sharer"

Keep working on my sewing project. It's really starting to come together

No stressing out (especially with this "bad" weather they are calling for on Thursday)

Dinner at home every weeknight: (yes, veggies will be served with every meal)

Monday - leftovers from Saturday night (I'll be posting about it this week)

Tuesday - Shake n Bake Chicken

Wednesday - Spaghetti

Thursday - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Friday - Chicken Patty's

2/5, UGH!!!

Ok, so I'm annoyed at my week of goals. I didn't do so hot!

~I had every desire to sew on Thursday after my half day of work (lots o snow and ice here), but got home and made a comfy spot on the couch.

~No stressing out, HA!! Yeah, that did happen especially on Thursday with all that snow and ice. I wish I could have been better at keeping the stress at bay, but there were some people who were not helping me to not stress out, in fact they were making things worse for me. ~Dinner at home every night, I would just like to quote the husband, "You should just make your goal be dinner at home 4/5 days a week, you totally would get the goal then......" Thanks husband for that help.

Ok, let's go to the new goals at hand, it's a new week and I can do this. : )

February 25 - March 1

Dinner at home 4 our of 5 nights this week.....(Ok husband, WE HAVE TO GET THIS GOAL!)

Workout 2 times this week (major slacker over here on the working out...)

Back to drinking lots o water, I may have drowned my sorrows in Diet Dr Pepper over the weekend...

Clean the master bathroom (we painted over the weekend, need to clean up the paint spots we missed)

Finish vacuuming the house (downstairs was completed on Saturday, upstairs still needs to be done)

We're about ready to get hit with not only snow, but ICE!! Ice is such a devil and the absolute WORST thing to drive over. As of now, we're expected to get anywhere of 3-6" of snow and sleet, maybe more since I live more west. I don't live close to work and drive a good 30+ miles to get here, so leaving early WILL be happening today. To be honest, I'm not really sure why I even came in today, but oh well. As of right now, we have nothing in the area. I did get to see the sun rise, but the clouds are coming in and covering it up.

Saint Louis is notorious of the crazy weather situations. A lot of the time, the weather is exaggerated and we hardly ever get what they say we will get. Today, I think they are right. So we shall see...

So here is my goal: stay at work until I see snow. Once I see it falling, I'm outta here!

Here's what I'm loving on this very cold and cloudy February 20, 2013!

I'm loving Zulily.com!!! I heard on the radio the other morning that Toms will be on their site, and if you know me, you know that I LOVE ME SOME TOMS!!! :) I'm loving the new Toms that I ordered for $23.99! I purchased the Youth Natural Canvas Classics in size 5.5 (that's a 7.5 in women's). I'm on the waiting list for the Ash and Black color. Man oh man did they sell quickly! I wasn't a fan on the color choices for women, but excited for the youth colors.

I'm loving that the house next to us is almost complete! Found out the neighbors will be closing in two weeks!! Yay for no more constructions workers all around us! :)

I'm loving that there is only 46 days left till the St Louis Cardinals home opener here at Busch Stadium against the Cincinnati Reds.

Hi to all!First, I've got to say I'm sorry. I know I've been a bad blogger lately, just nothing has come to mind to talk about. I spend practically all day long at work on a computer, 5 days a week and when I get home, getting on the computer for some more time doesn't sound that thrilling. Sorry. :(

I thought I would update you all with life:

The Weather

BOO on you weather! I am so ready for spring. While I know I don't have much to complain about since it's been a pretty mild winter, I still miss the days of being able to walk Keeley around the neighborhood without freezing my hiney off! I am hearing a winter storm is headed out way Thursday. I believe it, because last Monday I took a sick day (was suffering from migraine's all night long and didn't get much sleep, so I stayed home). So there fore, we will get a big storm that I will have to use another day off that I didn't really want to use....trust me. I read that daylight savings time is March 10th!! WOOHOOOO!!! I cannot wait! 2 and a half more weeks. Bring on the spring weather.

The Fur-Babies

They are as awesome as ever! I swear we hit the jackpot on the animals. We really lucked out with how great they are (I know, I am totally biased) but still. Saturday night it was around 10:30pm and I was on the couch just watching something random on TV, Keeley started whining wanting me to go to bed so she could lay with me. Then Sunday morning it's around 11am (yes lazy) she whining again, wanting me to get up and go downstairs. She loves it when we are home and loves her routines. Smokey is too funny, once he finds his comfy spot, he will stay for hours on end. Last night, it was cuddled next to me from 11pm to 5am. LOVE THE CUDDLES!

The House

We submitted plans to the city to finish our basement, which I am so excited for!! Of course it will be the man cave, but I am thrilled to have that basement finished! We should hear back soon if our plans were accepted or not, I would assume they would. Once we get approval, Andy and his dad will begin the task of making our basement a movie room/office for Andy. I know he is really looking forward to it. We also plan on getting a screen door for the garage to the kitchen so we can let more light and air in during those beautiful spring days. I am so looking forward to windows open in the house again!! We also need to paint the upstairs hallway, but I think that will be put on hold until next winter. One project at a time. :) Our bathroom is almost done being painted. Andy has had to work for the past 2 weekends and painting is not on his fun list when he has to work. I don't blame him!

The house next door to us should be done in the next month which I am so looking forward too. I am tired of the construction trucks in front of our house and them leaving messes all over the place. In fact I am so looking forward to our street being done. I think there is 3 more lots left and they are gone for good!! Woohoo!!

Sewing

I have started a new sewing project. I am making a quilt for our living room. I found the inspiration from pinterest. I spent a good majority of the time working on it over the weekend. When I get going on a project I dont want to stop it. The problem is, I have bad motivation in cutting the fabric. I am too much of a perfectionist when it comes to cutting and of course, I can't cut a straight line. I will say, my cutting skills are getting much better and I am working on my patience. :)

I can't believe that February is almost over and March is right around the corner! In no time it will be my birthday, Easter at the end of March, Andy and I will travel to Wisconsin in May, and we will celebrate our one year wedding anniversary! It seems like just yesterday that we got married.